Rebuilding
by Rix
Summary: At the end of sixth grade, Helga moved. Now in her sixteenth year, the Patakis return to Hillwood and she finds that people and relationships have changed. Can she remake a friendship with Pheobe? What of Arnold? HA
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first Hey Arnold fic! Yeah, like I deserve a medal for that, but whatever. Hopefully you people out there will like it. I'm not entirely sure where this story is going, but it should be fun.

Rebuilding

Chapter One

* * *

Hillwood High School was a very large, very old brick building, much like all the other buildings in the district and surrounding neighborhoods. Teenagers poured into the building, bounding up the front staircase and crawling over the grass, looking for all the world like ants returning to their queen. None dallied on the lawn at this time of the morning, all too worried about the imminent tolling of the tardy bell that could spell their doom.

Helga G. Pataki was not in the least bit worried about being late. The likelihood of her actually getting to her first class on time was slim to none as she had to go to the office first and drop off her paperwork. Right now Helga was watching for familiar faces. She thought she might have spotted Sheena already, but wasn't sure. If it was her, five years had made a difference; not that Helga looked exactly the same as she had in sixth grade. Absently, she fingered a lock of her hair, shoulder-length and blonde with streaks in bubblegum pink. Olga had badgered her into getting her eyebrows waxed in her freshman year so the uni-brow was no longer. No longer were pink sundresses apart of her ordinary wardrobe, either. During the course of Junior High and High School those dresses and bows had been replaced by black miniskirts and chains, with a generous helping of combat boots and safety pins. The anger of her clothing offset her lithe body.

At the moment she was wearing a short, plaid skirt in purple and black, and a black tank top underneath a black hooded sweatshirt adorned with safety pins along the hood and pocket. The messenger bag slung across her shoulders held a few notebooks and a binder, as well as her newest journal and a selection of pens and pencils.

Suddenly a sound the sixteen year old girl hadn't heard for five years tore through her musings. Heavy breathing, over her left shoulder.

Huffing in annoyance despite the rush of nostalgia coursing through her body, Helga let her fist fly.

She heard a body hit the ground and turned to see who it was.

"Brainy?" It was him, without a doubt, though he was not wearing any glasses, and as he stood he revealed himself to be outstanding in height, and just as horrible in posture.

"I _thought_ it was you," he said in a deep voice. Time really had done him well. Across the street a bell tolled.

"Yeah. Looks like you're going to be late," she said. Brainy shrugged not seeming to care.

"When did you get back?"

"Just three days ago."

The boy nodded, and started to cross the street glancing for cars in both directions.

"Do you know where the office is?" he asked without turning around. She didn't.

Scowling at the thought of receiving help from _Brainy_ of all people, Helga didn't move. She would find somebody who _didn't _know her to ask for help. Besides, the school wasn't large; it couldn't be too hard to find the Administrations Office.

She waited until there were no more students wandering around the entrance to move from her spot. She strolled down the main hallway and was immediately, hopelessly lost. Even better, the halls were completely empty. She continued along glaring at the dirty tiled floors, and grey lockers. The Offices had been at the front of her last school. Sighing, Helga started looking for the nearest staircase.

"DAMNIT!" Startled, Helga stopped and looked back the way she came. The front doors slammed shut behind a girl with short, sandy hair and clothes similar to Helga's own. The straps and chains of her pants flapped around her legs and clanged together while she ran, and her converses squeaked on the tiles. She flew down the corridor at breakneck speed, and nearly missed her turn due to her momentum. That momentum sent her flying into Helga, and brought them both to the ground.

"I take it you're late."

Carrie rolled her eyes at the other girl's sarcasm before turning to face her.

"And you're not?" she challenged. Helga smirked.

"No, I'm just lost," she snorted. "Can't seem to find the office."

They both stood, brushing themselves off, sizing each other up.

"Well," began Carrie amiably, "Seeing as I'm late already it wouldn't be any trouble to show you the way."

The blonde girl shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, Missy. Seemed to me you were pretty upset about being late, but okay." She made a 'lead the way' motion with her arms.

Carrie gave her a roguish smile and shrugged, obliging she walked ahead towards the stairwell.

"All the teacher's offices are on the fifth floor, for some reason. Personally, I think it's meant to make it more foreboding, having to go up there. I'm Carrie Peterson by the way."

"Helga Pataki. Thanks for the help."

"No problem. It wasn't all that important that I get to math, anyway. I'll have to suffer the detention anyway. I had some vain hope of getting out of it earlier, but the chances were slim to none."

Helga nodded following Carrie up the stairs. She had to agree; there was no good reason for the teachers to put their offices on the top floor. It made them frustratingly inaccessible.

Carrie, it turned out, was a sophomore who enjoyed anime, vampires, loud music, and _talking_. The prattled on through four flights of stairs, and just as Helga's patience was running out she finished.

"Well, here's where you'll turn in your new student paperwork. If you need somewhere to sit at lunch, my friends and I are usually in one of the art rooms."

She smiled and waved before bounding back down the stairs, leaving the other girl to brave the secretary by herself.

"Well everything appears to be in order. Here's your class schedule, and a map of the school, for you. The 100's are on the first floor, the 200's on the second and so on. Welcome to Hillwood High!" Helga was about done with cheerful people for the day.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sadly, only two pages. I added a couple of paragraphs recently though (this is the second time I've updated this chapter, just so you know).

Rebuilding

Chapter Two

With help from her map, Helga located her locker easily enough and tested the combination. It opened easily without so much as a squeak, so she deposited her lunch and closed it again, and inspected her schedule.

Her first period was AP History, and already half over. Quickly deciding that walking in and interrupting the class wasn't worth the fifteen minutes she would actually spend learning after getting her seat, book, and papers, the girl compared her schedule and map.

AP History was in room 309 and so on the third floor. After that she would jump down to the first floor for Photography, and then back up to the second, where her locker was located, for AP English. After lunch she went back to the ground floor for Algebra 2, and then all the way up to the fourth floor for Physics. Lastly, she would return to the second floor for German 3. With a small sigh, Helga began searching for her English classroom. She glanced into each of her classrooms, memorizing the way easily, fingering the locket hung around her neck along the way.

Was it possible she would run into Arnold today? She wanted to tell herself no, just to calm her nerves, but logic dictated otherwise. This was the closest High School to his house, and though it had almost happened once, his grandparents weren't likely to have left their little boarding house. Still, the school was big, chances were if she saw him at all it would only be in passing.

Having had no trouble locating her classrooms, Helga made a beeline for the library intending to checkout her textbooks. The library, she found, was mostly detached from the school, connected only by a covered hallway and was directly across the blacktop from the similarly detached gym. It was a large building, two stories tall though the second was more loft-like than a real second floor. It was accessed by stairs and took up only the back half of the library's space, allowing the front half, where there were study tables, a view of the skylight.

The check-out counter was next to the double door entrance. Helga went their first and handed the librarian her schedule. Moments later she had a handful of heavy school books to haul up to her locker.

Later, she left her English class, grabbed her lunch, and stalked outside scowling. Not only was she light years ahead of everyone in her Advanced Placement class, meaning the year was sure to be extremely dull, but she had run into Phoebe during the ten minute break between her second and third period. Helga had bumped into the petite girl while reading the syllabus her photography teacher had given her.

_At the very least,_ Helga thought, trying to curb her anger, _she recognized me._

Nadine hadn't, though she had remembered Old Betsy and The Five Avengers easily enough. They had actually had a little chuckle at that just before class stared. Laughing with a friend wasn't something Helga was at all accustomed to anymore, but Nadine seemed genuinely happy to see her, and that was a pleasant thought.

Phoebe knew her instantly, immediately exclaiming, "Helga!"

The blonde girl smirked at her old friend. "Hey, there Pheebs."

The little asian's surprise turned immediate to joy at her old friend's return, but was quickly squashed, as was Helga's happiness at Phoebe's reaction.

"Who's the little goth-freak, Phoebe?" _Ultra-prep_, thought Helga, taking in the girl next to her old friend. She was average height, and well, though conservatively dressed in a button down blouse and jeans. Her glasses were thin and fashionable. Helga gave her a nasty look.

"Who's the snob, Pheebs?" she sneered.

"Um…well, Helga. This is Amy, she's a friend of mine –"

"_Helga?_ Nice name." The other girl's voice dripped with sarcasm, and Phoebe looked very uncomfortable.

"Yeah. Well, listen, Pheebs, I'll see you later, okay?" She nodded apologetically, and watched Helga walk off.

A/N: I've said it with my Harry Potter fic, so I'll say it with this one. If you like this fic then review. REVIEWS ARE A GREAT MOTIVATOR! I mean it. They get me pumped and ready to write so send them in.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: See this is what I mean about reviews. I got a few good ones and started writing. So I guess we'll see how much attention I give this fic. I'm really starting to like Carrie, but she probably won't be a big character. Not minor, but not big either.

Untitled

Chapter Three

It didn't take a genius to see that the small girl felt bad about not sticking up for her old friend, but Helga couldn't seem to squash the anger that had hold of her. She took her lunch down to the first floor where all of the art rooms were and started looking in the windows, wanting to avoid _old_ friends at all costs. Carrie welcomed her into the room she and her friends routinely overtook during the lunch hour.

Helga was honestly surprised to find such diversity in the energetic girl's group of friends, but the circle was composed of a couple Goths, new-age hippies, and out-and-out geeks. The blonde girl was pleased to find that she knew none of them.

"Helga, this is Mike," Carrie said, pointing to a blonde boy who was sketching a dragon on his large art pad and wearing a 'Don't be Chicken, Donate Blood' t-shirt. Next she motioned to a boy with a large black trench coat draped over his shoulders.

"And Danny. The beautiful girl next to him is Jessica." Jessica rolled her eyes through a curtain of silky red hair and waved at Helga before turning her attention back to her guitar. She introduced Helga to Annie, who was playing cards with Jerome, and Denny who was watching while trying in vain to work on homework, and Ash, who was far more focused on the cold pasta he was eating than anything else going on in the room.

Helga said her hellos and took a seat next to the card players, casually placing her feet upon an empty desk and pulled out her lunch.

"So where're you from, Helga?" Annie asked when her game was over.

"Here originally," she said, "but my family moved to San Francisco six years ago."

"Really? I've always wanted to go there," mused Jessica. Danny shrugged.

"I've heard it's crowded."

"It is." Jessica just shrugged, not bothered by Helga's information.

"I just want to walk in one of the gay pride parades," she said.

"Oh, those are neat," Helga responded. "You get some real freaks coming to those. Guys dressed up in pink leather pants and leashes."

"Really?" As the conversation went on, she found that she actually liked these people, and vowed to eat with them again. She was actually beginning to forget about the possibility that she might run into Arnold, which had been haunting her all day, when the door flew open.

"Hi guys!" He was tall, but only just, with blonde hair, and, she knew without even looking, green eyes, with a football shaped head. Her heart stopped for a moment and her blood ran cold.

"Oh! Arnold, come here and meet my new friend –" Helga cut off her new friend without a thought.

"Hey, there, Football Head."

Arnold froze, the cards in his hand momentarily forgotten. Nobody had called him football head for years. In fact, the only one to _ever_ call him that was…

"_Helga?_" If the nickname wasn't enough proof of her identity then the familiar smirk was.

"Nice to see I'm remembered, bucko. How's it going?" Arnold smiled. It seemed his old 'nemesis' was in a good mood. She hadn't insulted him yet.

"You two know each other?" Carrie, the poor girl, was baffled.

"_Whatever_ gave you that idea?" Helga remarked in all her sarcastic glory. It didn't seem to bother Carrie, as she laughed and nodded. Helga wasn't the only one of her friends to be rolling their eyes; it was something she was used too.

"When did you get back?" he asked.

"Three days ago."

"Well, welcome back. Just in time for Halloween, too," mused Arnold. Suddenly he remembered why he had come to the art room. "Here," he said, handing Helga an envelope. "It's an invitation to my costume party. You'll need it to get in so if you want to come, hang on to it. I've got one for each of you."

He handed out the other invitations explaining the place and time to everyone before turning back to Helga.

"So, what's your schedule like?"

"Next I've got math, then physics, and German."

"Who do you have for Physics?" For that, Helga needed her schedule.

"Pinowski," she answered. Arnold grinned widely.

"Then you'll have a class with me."

"Good," said Helga, smirking again. "I've got the science wiz to go to for help."

"I'm not a science wiz, Helga."

"You are too," Mike interjected, not looking up from his sketch pad. The others around him nodded their agreement. Arnold glanced at them sheepishly, and Helga's heart melted. _He's so modest_.

"And Phoebe's in our class, too. She'll help you if you ask her, I'm sure."

The blonde girl made a non-committal 'hmm' and glanced at the floor, scowling. Of course, he would find a way to bring her bad mood back. He had a nasty habit of flinging her through the full spectrum in an instant.

Arnold was perplexed. He knew Phoebe missed her friend, but Helga was acting as if they'd gotten into a fight.

"Did you run into Phoebe already?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it, Anoldo. It's not a big deal," she said, but he didn't seem convinced. Becoming uncomfortable with the conversation, Helga glanced at the stack of envelopes her crush still had in his hand.

"Don't you have more invitations to hand out?"

"Oh, oh!" he started, noticing them as well; "I guess I do. Well, I guess I'll see you later then.

By guys!" he waved joyfully at the others who all waved back, without stopping their conversations. Helga was relieved to see him go.

The tall girl was beyond glad when the others allowed her to sit and think without interruption until the bell rang. She _knew_ was going to run into Arnold today. She _knew_ _it._ And truth be told, it had gone pretty well. He had been happy to see her. Actually, she hadn't found anyone from P.S. 118 who wasn't happy to see her today. _That_ was shock if there ever was one. Helga had expected her return to be met with groans and sneers, though that was perhaps a little unreasonable. After all, it wasn't as though she was a really big part of any of their lives. Phoebe was probably the only one who would have missed her when she moved.

She wondered, absently what happened between her and Phoebe. They kept in touch after the move, writing and calling each other often for two or three years. It was just around the end of middle school and the beginning of high school that the letters and phone calls had become fewer and fewer until they were almost nonexistent. Then they had just stopped. It was sad to think that something like _apathy_ would come between the two.

While Helga could admit that she often took advantage of the smaller girl's natural subservience, and treated like a personal assistant, that had been changing, and changing quickly, during the fifth grade. Phoebe began sticking up for herself more and demanding Helga do things that _she _wanted to do. And Helga had been developing a very real respect for the other girl. In the end, they had just become to busy for each other, she supposed.

But that would not do. Maybe they couldn't be as close as they were becoming before the move, but Helga would get her friend back. She was decided. When the bell rang signaling the end of the lunch period, she picked up her bag and headed for the door only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey." It was Carrie and she was smiling manically. "You have a crush on Arnold, don't you?"

"_What?_" Helga turned and glared at the other girl. Nobody had ever accused her of having a crush on him before! Unless you counted Lila, and Helga certainly _did not. _ How had she figured it out? "What on _earth_ gave you that idea?"

"Ooo…I'm right, aren't I?" Helga desperately wanted to smack the smirk off this girl's face. But she liked her, and so that would be a bad idea. Falling into a familiar denial act, she laughed and shook her head.

"Whatever floats your boat, girl. I'm going to class."

"I KNOW THE TRUTH!" she heard from the hallway. She couldn't help but smile at that. This Carrie girl was a fruit loop that's for sure.

A/N: Four pages isn't too bad, I guess. Also, if I could get some ideas for a title from you guys I would sure appreciate it. I really don't have any. REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Ha ha! Chapter four has finally come around. And I managed to get in some more POV's, too. I congratulate myself. I had the weirdest form of writer's block for about two days. I was constantly thinking of the story (and a HP one I'm writing) but I could not seem to write anything. It's gone now, though. Overall I think it probably helped me put the story into perspective.

Rebuilding (Hurray! We have a title!)

Chapter Four

* * *

Stepping into her physics classroom, Helga felt overwhelming fear engulf her. Phoebe and Arnold were both in this class. This was going to be Hell. She walked straight to the teacher's desk without glancing into the rest of the room. 

"It's good to have you Ms. Pataki. We have no seating chart in this class so feel free to sit anywhere," her relatively young teacher, instructed. Helga got the feeling the woman was probably very nice, in a no nonsense sort of way. Pleased with most of the teachers she had been stuck with so far, the girl sat down and privately awaited the arrival of someone she recognized.

* * *

Phoebe Heyerdal walked solemnly to her Physics class; mind a whirl with thoughts of her old friend Helga G. Pataki. It was irrefutable fact that she had missed Helga very much in the past few years, and deeply regretted loosing touch with the girl, and now she feared she would loose her for good. Looking back, Phoebe knew that having Helga as a friend during childhood had helped her grow in many ways, confidence being one of the least, and she was forever thankful. What she didn't know was if she could stand to let the chance to continue growing go. 

People grew apart, and even the closest of friends did not always remain so. That is a fact of life. Sometimes you have to just let go, but Phoebe knew this would be detrimental to her personal growth. Helga had many more things left to teach her; maybe she would never run out.

This Phoebe did not _know_, she _felt_. In general, running on instinct was not something the petite girl believed in, but for Helga it was worth a try. She had no fear of rejection from the tall blonde girl she had once idolized in her own, special way. That was not what caused her fear as she navigated her way through the halls. The expression on Helga's face earlier had told Phoebe, who could read the unapproachable girl as easily as an encyclopedia, all she needed to know. Helga _wanted_ to be friends with her. Helga wasn't ready to drift apart, either.

What caused Phoebe's bad mood was Amy. Amy McIntyre was not someone she was ready to give up yet either, though for a vastly different reason. Amy was Class President. Amy was sure to be the Homecoming Queen come November. Amy was a leader of half the clubs that Phoebe Heyerdal belonged too. Amy was Phoebe Heyerdal's stepping stool, and Phoebe wasn't yet ready to sit on a ledge and kick her away.

Self-confidence was not the only thing Helga Geraldine Pataki had ever taught her best friend.

Until Phoebe had cemented the ties she wanted around the school she was going to have to be Amy's little shadow. She could not waste all the effort she had put in to creating a reputation for herself for the last half a year, and so she would have to spend time with Helga sparingly, and act as an occasional mediator. The idea wasn't one the black haired girl was fond of. Both Helga and Amy had fiery tempers.

But, she decided, in the end it would be worth it. Hell, with Helga's devious style of help, she could probably create her desired place in the school all the more quickly, and get rid of Amy in the process. Ties to the underworld were just as useful as ties to the throne, and Helga was definitely a person who could create ties with ease. Phoebe's less social nature (because in an abstract form Helga was _very_ social) made the process extremely difficult. It was the same theory that had the small girl following Amy around, more than the other girl's pre-existent ties.

McIntyre was a social butterfly, albeit one with more malicious tongue than Helga G. Pataki's had ever been. Amy refused to hold back when she didn't like something or someone, whereas with Helga the teasing was a twisted form of socialization. Phoebe never doubted the fact that Helga could be horrible and probably, now worse than Amy if she wanted to be, but the blonde girl never wanted to be that horrible.

Ties and reputations aside, it would be worth it to be Helga's friend again. Pushing open the door to her classroom, Phoebe hoped, childishly, that Helga might have this class with her. She was stunned to find that she did.

The girl sat, thumbing through her textbook, on the left side of the room at the second to last table, directly behind Phoebe's usual seat, actually. She was just about to dash down the isle and claim the seat next to the new girl when she was stopped.

"Miss Heyredal," began Ms. Pinowski, "We have a new student joining us today. I want you to sit next to her and go over what we have already covered in class, during your free study today."

That was part of what everyone liked about this particular Physics class. Every Wednesday was free study, where students got into groups of three and helped each other understand the material, occasionally going to Ms. Pinowski for clarification. Helga certainly chose the right day to begin school.

"Yes, ma'am," Phoebe responded. Without waiting for the teacher to point her out, Phoebe walked quickly to her old friend's side, smiling.

* * *

Pinowski saw the look on Miss Heyredal's face as she walked up to Helga's desk and wondered momentarily if having Phoebe help the Pataki girl was the best idea. They appeared to be friends already, and from experience she knew that friends rarely got much work done together. Perhaps she should have sent Arnold to help her…

* * *

"Hello again, Helga," Phoebe said cheerfully. 

"Hey there, Pheebs." The blonde flipped a few pages in her book with only the barest of glances at her old friend. Vow to remake ties of friendship with the girl or not, Helga still was unsure of where she stood with Phoebe Heyredal.

Undaunted, Phoebe continued. "You chose a good day to start school. Every Wednesday we have group study this period. Ms. Pinowski wants to know where you are in terms of physics work."

Reluctantly, Helga smiled. The grin on her friend's face was genuine and infectious.

"Well, I've never been wonderful with science, as you well know, but manage to keep up."

"Well, remember, if you need help with anything you know you can always come to me."

Helga's smile widened and took on a lopsided, cocky attitude.

"Remembering!" she chimed. Phoebe laughed.

"Nice to see you two getting along." Arnold sat down on Helga's other side, filling the table.

"What, Arnoldo? You were worried we wouldn't?" asked Helga, still grinning. She was in an exceptionally good mood at the moment. The boy merely smiled and shook his head.

"So were you asked to evaluate my progress, as well, Football Head?"

"No," he answered wryly, "I was asked to keep you two on track."

"Well, I'm sure you'll try your hardest." All three of them chuckled at Helga's sympathetic attitude, knowing it was true. They weren't going to get much work done that day.

At her desk in the front of the room, Ms. Pinowski pinched her nose in frustration. Her class had been going so well this year! All decent students, no apparent trouble makers, and in every group of friends there seemed to be at least one person who would keep the rest in line.

"Oh, Phoebe! Here," he said, pulling two envelopes out of his bag while glancing at the clock. Technically, they still had two minutes to socialize. "They're for my Halloween part. You and Gerald are both invited."

"Why, thank you, Arnold," she said, taking the cards. "I'll see if I can convince Gerald to come."

Arnold smiled sadly, knowing the chances of his friend showing up were slim to none, but at least Phoebe would ask him.

"That's alright. If he doesn't want to come, you can bring someone else. Except, Amy," he added pleadingly, lowering his voice so that the rest of the class couldn't hear him. Amy McIntyre was nice enough to him, in fact she seemed to have a bit of a crush on him, but she hated just about all of his really good friends. Having her at the party would be a disaster, and he had already invited Eugene, so he didn't need anymore hazards floating around.

Silently, Helga cheered. She had one over on the little bitch, at least. Arnold didn't like her even if Phoebe did. As Phoebe nodded understandingly, she felt even more empowered. It appeared the little Asian girl knew that Amy wasn't well liked among her other group of friends.

The class continued in much the same way. Pinowski took a moment in the beginning to introduce Helga and then let them go into group study. Arnold did indeed do his best to keep their group on the subject of Physics as their teacher strolled up and down the isle, while Helga did her damnedest to throw them off. Phoebe delighted in her Helga's presence and didn't seem at all bothered by their wandering minds, as she usually would have been.

After catching the group reminiscing about elementary school for the third time, Pinowski admitted defeat and chose to ignore the three for the rest of the hour.

* * *

A/N: Well, I must say, I think this chapter has turned out pretty decently. Phoebe's turned out to be a lot more devious than I ever thought she would. I honestly don't know what position she's trying to get herself into with school, or why it matters so much to her, but I'll get it figured out. Anyway, what do you guys think? REVIEW!!! 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: It's been a while…Sorry this one took so long, but the muse took off on me. I had to write unaided for a while, and not just on this fic.

Chapter Five

* * *

That night, Arnold sat at his desk reeling from the events of the day. In all honesty, he hadn't thought of Helga in years, and yet here she was. It was odd how things worked like that. No matter what, life when on. Looking back, Helga had been a decent friend, when she decided to be friendly however rare that was. With any luck, the tall blonde would continue talking to him even after she acclimated herself to the new school, and would come to his Halloween Party.

He hoped Gerald would come as well. He hadn't seen Gerald in nearly two weeks, and was getting worried. The other boy had been avoiding him since freshman year, despite all of Arnold's best efforts. It was a simple thing, really. Gerald had made a few new friends; ones that Arnold could see were not running in the best of crowds. He had done his best not to preach to Gerald, but when it became apparent that his friend was doing drugs with his new companions there had been a big fight. Days later, Arnold apologized and tried using logic and reason to make the other boy see sense, but Gerald had only turned away.

For six months now, Phoebe had been acting as an intermediary for the two. She was Gerald's support and incentive to quit the abuse. She was the only one he would allow to help him, and Arnold figured it was better than nothing, so he did all his communications with his old friend through her.

Amazingly, she had gotten him to spend some time with his old friend in the form of group outings. It was nice having Gerald around, even if he had a negative attitude most of the time, when he wasn't just silent. If he deigned to come to the party he would likely spend most of his time standing off to the side, eating snacks. Arnold would consider it a miracle if the other boy actually showed up in costume.

Sighing, Arnold made one last mark on his paper, and closed his Algebra 2 book. Finally, his homework was finished. He dug through his backpack for the slip of paper on which he had written his party's guest list. Smoothing out the wrinkles, he glanced over the names. Old friends, new friends, and friends' friends. He picked up his pencil and wrote in Helga's name at the bottom with a smile. He added a check mark after Phoebe's name to show that she had already consented to come, and for what must have been the thousandth time, traced the bleak question mark next to _Gerald J_.

* * *

Helga sat at her desk, humming joyfully and sighing occasionally as she scribbled away in a brand new brown leather journal. This one she had bought the day before the Pataki's left San Francisco. It was one of many, the others sat in a box in a corner of her closet gathering dust. Some were diaries and journals, holding her most personal thoughts laid bare for anyone to read, others were full of poems and short stories, insights into the evolving mind and writing style of one H.G. Pataki.

Today was a good day, and her writing and humming reflected that. Her new school was decent, even if she was going to be bored to tears in English. Not only did she have a few new friends, but both Arnold and Phoebe were in her physics class, meaning more than just intelligent study-buddies. This was the chance she had been dreaming of ever since she found out they were to be returning to Hillwood.

Her love for Arnold was as strong as it had ever been, and only one other person had ever gotten so close to her as Phoebe had. With this 'grace of God' scheduling she could tie herself to both of them again and hopefully become even closer.

When she finished spilling her heart out on paper she picked up her cell phone and dialed. That one friend who managed to get as close to her as Phoebe had would be waiting for her to call. After three days of nothing he was sure to be getting impatient with her.

"Finally, Helga!"

"Hey, Nate," she said cringing at his mildly scolding tone. He may have managed to get as close to her as Phoebe had, but he was definitely nothing like the timid asian girl.

"I thought I was going to have to call you myself tomorrow."

"Yeah, well, sorry. I've been busy unpacking with Bob and Miriam, and filling out paperwork, and being a nervous wreck in general."

"Hmph. That's what I'm for you know. You're supposed to call your friends when you're a nervous wreck so they can tell you how stupid you are."

Helga chuckled at the boy's serious tone.

"Yeah well, you know me. I like the muse."

"Been writing already then?"

"Over ten pages in the last three days, I think," she said, eyeing her new journal. So, maybe it was more like twenty pages, but most of it was pretty redundant thanks to her worrywart mind, and some people counted both sides of a page as one page…

"So what's your new school like?"

"Pretty basic," she said. "There can't be more than sixty classrooms, but the library is pretty big."

"Well, that's a plus," he commented, with a smile in his voice. "What about lover-boy?"

Helga snorted. "It's _Arnold_, Nate, and I have physics with him."

"Oooooooo! And?"

"And I got invited to his Halloween Party," she added rolling her eyes.

"Halloween Party?"

"Is there an echo in here?"

"Awesome! What are you going to wear?"

"I wanted your help with that actually." Helga didn't have to see Nate to know that his face had just lit up with delight. He loved helping her dress up. The guy was very gay in a subtle way, and he wasn't a transvestite of any sort, but he loved picking out Helga's clothes. The blonde girl personally thought that he made no sense whatsoever, and had jokingly tried to convince him to put on one of her dresses more than once. He laughed with her, but steadfastly refused.

"Is it a costume party?"

"That's what it says on the invitation. Any ideas, there knucklehead?"

"Oh, I have some ideas. We'll just see if this Arnold kid can keep his hands off you during the party."

"Nate!"

* * *

A/N: I know it's really short, but I wanted to give you guys something. So tell me what you think. Personally, I like Nate. He's cool. 


	6. Author's Note

**First I must apologize**. This is not an update, but I feel I owe all you wonderful people who have been kept coming back an explanation for the lack of updating. Now of course it is mostly my fault. Nobody has been forcing me not to update, I am not being blackmailed or any such thing. **However**, you are free to blame the Modern Prometheus. For those of you reading Purpose, he did not start the problem, I did that (by that I mean going online to read all of the Naruto translations I could find) on my own, but he made the problem worse. Indeed he did. And he did this by sending me a link to** 53** volumes of the Detective Conan series, and got me thoroughly hooked. So it's his fault that I'm too distracted by comics to write. Go yell at him a review. Seriously, do it. It would amuse him so. It would amuse me as well…

Anyway, I am sorry for the lack of updating. To keep you informed, I have about 1/3 of my SD chapter done, I'm revising purpose from the start, so we can say that's on a bit of a hiatus (tear, I know, I'm sorry), maybe half of the next NG chapter, and as for Guilty…well, the next chapter is done if I don't go through and revise it first, but I did say I wanted to be a few chapters ahead…so it might still be a while. Let's just say that Rebuilding in on hiatus as well. My muse is jumping around right now and it probably just needs some time to settle down, not to mention school is smacking me upside the head. I hate algebra, I really do.

Again, I'm sorry. I'll update sometime soon. None of these stories have been abandoned by any means, I promise.

Rix


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